Latest / The Gregg Bell Show / 5-29 H1: Mental Health & Return of DeMarcus Lawrence

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5-29 H1: Mental Health & Return of DeMarcus Lawrence · The Gregg Bell Show

0:00
Speaker 1: On the field. The Mariners will discuss those first place
0:02
Speaker 1: ms with Gary Hill Jr. Marin Is radio broadcaster. Chris
0:06
Speaker 1: lined him up to be on our show at eleven o'clock.
0:09
Speaker 1: Frequent guest of the show. He is crush off and
0:11
Speaker 1: off day yesterday, so he'll be even more cheerful and
0:14
Speaker 1: bright than he always is, the optimistic and always fun
0:17
Speaker 1: to talk to Gary Hill at eleven o'clock. We'll read
0:19
Speaker 1: back to your text at eleven thirty four nine four
0:22
Speaker 1: five to one. First, I want to start with something
0:25
Speaker 1: that is real life in sports. That was Monday night
1:03
Speaker 1: in the Bell Center in Montreal. That was Claude Lemieux
1:07
Speaker 1: entering the arena in Montreal before Game three of the
1:10
Speaker 1: Eastern Conference finals of the Stanley Cup plast. Lemieux was
1:13
Speaker 1: wearing his red Canadians number thirty two game sweater over
1:16
Speaker 1: a collared shirt and slacks. He's a four times Stanley
1:20
Speaker 1: Cup champion, played twenty one seasons in the NHL ultra
1:23
Speaker 1: clutch in the playoffs. Successful business owner with his wife
1:27
Speaker 1: in Florida. On Monday, Lemieux was basking in the Rosdo
1:30
Speaker 1: sold out arena that you could hear in the background
1:32
Speaker 1: there in Hockey mad Montreal. Lemieu was carrying it and
1:37
Speaker 1: raising a torch and a ceremony the Canadians had been
1:39
Speaker 1: doing just before the start of each of their playoff
1:42
Speaker 1: games this spring. He was smiling, He was raising both
1:45
Speaker 1: of his arms to the ceiling and they would roar
1:47
Speaker 1: some more. When you win a Stanley Cup for the Canadians,
1:51
Speaker 1: as clud Lemieux did in nineteen eighty six, you are
1:55
Speaker 1: royalty there and across Canada for life. Royalty committed suicide.
2:02
Speaker 1: The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office in Florida says its
2:06
Speaker 1: deputies responded jefft after three am Thursday to a call
2:10
Speaker 1: with an apparent suicide in the back of a warehouse
2:12
Speaker 1: for Lemieux's furniture business. One of his sons following you there.
2:17
Speaker 1: Three days after Montreal and all of Canada fetted him
2:21
Speaker 1: as a Stanley Cup hero, cyte lem Youu took his life.
2:26
Speaker 1: Rick Green was Lemieux's teammate in the nineteen eighty six
2:29
Speaker 1: Cup champion Canadians. He told Stu Collen, a friend of us,
2:33
Speaker 1: on the show of the Montreal Gazette yesterday, quote, it
2:36
Speaker 1: was such a treat to see what he did with
2:38
Speaker 1: the torch, and then the next thing you know, he's
2:41
Speaker 1: no longer part of life. It's really tough, really tough.
2:45
Speaker 1: If he did have some issues, he probably kept them
2:48
Speaker 1: pretty quiet about it. Like a lot of guys from
2:51
Speaker 1: back in our years, that was a no, no, don't
2:53
Speaker 1: show weakness. But there's a lot there's going to be
2:57
Speaker 1: a lot of people and family and every buddy that
3:00
Speaker 1: are going to feel the pain and loss for a
3:02
Speaker 1: good guy. It's a shocker and it will be hard
3:05
Speaker 1: to digest this one for a while. I let the
3:09
Speaker 1: show off of this because it's another reminder everyone's got something.
3:12
Speaker 1: I've got something, You've got something, We all got something,
3:16
Speaker 1: and you just never know. And for anyone out there
3:20
Speaker 1: that help is available. One of the great technological advances
3:23
Speaker 1: of us all having phones in our pockets, and one
3:25
Speaker 1: of the great things that our nation has done with
3:28
Speaker 1: this technology is they have established a national suicide and
3:33
Speaker 1: Crisis They don't call it helpline, they call it a lifeline,
3:37
Speaker 1: and you can dial nine to eight from your phone
3:39
Speaker 1: anywhere at any time, twenty four hours a day, seven
3:42
Speaker 1: days a week. If you speak Spanish, you speak English,
3:45
Speaker 1: you call the number and there will be a professionally
3:48
Speaker 1: trained counselor on the other end of that line. You
3:52
Speaker 1: just never know. And Chris, we've talked about this before,
3:55
Speaker 1: but this is when sports is real life. Someone who
4:00
Speaker 1: seems so successful and someone that twenty thousand people were
4:03
Speaker 1: roaring for just three days earlier takes his own life,
4:08
Speaker 1: and it's just a reminder, man, you just never know.
4:11
Speaker 1: And it's I saw this yesterday. The news came during
4:17
Speaker 1: the show and I was trying to process it, and
4:19
Speaker 1: then the news came about an hour after a show
4:22
Speaker 1: that he had committed suicide. And it's just it's wrenching.
4:27
Speaker 1: It really is. Like I said, I just wanted to
4:29
Speaker 1: bring it up as the reminder everyone's got something. Yeah,
4:32
Speaker 1: it's it's real life. You know.
4:34
Speaker 2: Everyone talks about the money these people make, but money
4:38
Speaker 2: only does so much, right. It's it's great when you
4:40
Speaker 2: have it, but there could be so many other things
4:43
Speaker 2: that are in your life that are affecting you. And
4:47
Speaker 2: sometimes it could be as simple as just going to
4:49
Speaker 2: talk to someone. But even all that money, maybe you
4:51
Speaker 2: don't feel comfortable because you think you have it all right,
4:54
Speaker 2: So who do you lean on in those situations? And
4:57
Speaker 2: that's always it's always sad when you hear that someone
5:00
Speaker 2: has taking their own life, whether they're in sports or not.
5:03
Speaker 2: You just don't like seeing that. So that's a tough one.
5:07
Speaker 2: And you, just as you mentioned, you just never know
5:10
Speaker 2: what someone is going through. No matter what they show
5:13
Speaker 2: on socials or what they do for their career. You
5:17
Speaker 2: don't get an inside look at what goes on when
5:19
Speaker 2: they're in their car, when they're at home with their family.
5:22
Speaker 2: So it's always it's always important to have a little
5:26
Speaker 2: empathy there and just understand that you don't know despite
5:31
Speaker 2: what you're seeing on TV or wherever, you might get
5:36
Speaker 2: some insight onto that person.
5:38
Speaker 1: That's the word, Chris, empathy. Yeah, it's what our society
5:42
Speaker 1: really really needs. And yeah, walking in someone else's shoes
5:47
Speaker 1: and trying to relate to what they could be going through.
5:52
Speaker 1: I just wanted to talk about. There is new error
5:56
Speaker 1: help out there in the last couple of years, this
5:58
Speaker 1: National Lifeline Night. They're also professionals locally, statewide, nationally. It's
6:05
Speaker 1: a huge problem in our society and mental health in particular.
6:09
Speaker 1: As Rick Green mentioned to Stuke Collen there in the
6:12
Speaker 1: Montreal Gazette, it's a taboo subject especially in athletics and
6:17
Speaker 1: in the locker room I trapes around in for nine
6:19
Speaker 1: months a year. It is especially taboo in the NFL
6:21
Speaker 1: to talk about it, and the NFL players are starting
6:23
Speaker 1: to awaken themselves to the need to talk about this things.
6:27
Speaker 1: The Seahawks, to their credit and part of the reason
6:30
Speaker 1: they think they won the Super Bowl is starting this
6:33
Speaker 1: time last year, the Seahawks had very vulnerable team meetings
6:37
Speaker 1: about what players why were and if they had issues
6:41
Speaker 1: going on at home. They wanted to talk about it
6:43
Speaker 1: among themselves in position meetings and many times Mike McDonald
6:48
Speaker 1: just shelves football, especially this time of year, and has
6:52
Speaker 1: guys talk about each other to each other and about
6:56
Speaker 1: their personal lives and about as Leonard Williams did this
7:00
Speaker 1: time last year's step and talk about their why and
7:02
Speaker 1: he's letter ways. I remember him saying, no one's ever
7:04
Speaker 1: asked me that before. No one's cared enough to ask
7:07
Speaker 1: what is your why? Why do you do what you do?
7:10
Speaker 1: Lenna Williams was briefly homeless for a time and Maitland,
7:13
Speaker 1: Florida Maitland High School and Daytona Beach, Florida, before a
7:17
Speaker 1: former assistant coach there became USC assistant coach and recruited
7:21
Speaker 1: him to USC, and the rest is history. Began a
7:23
Speaker 1: star at USC and a first round draft pick in
7:25
Speaker 1: the NFL, and now he's made hundreds of millions of dollars.
7:29
Speaker 1: He was briefly homeless and wayward in Daytona Beach and
7:33
Speaker 1: he is motivated by that. And he talked openly last
7:37
Speaker 1: year at this time about the Seahawks' vulnerability, the environment,
7:43
Speaker 1: that a culture that Mike McDonald has set in talking
7:47
Speaker 1: about these kind of issues, and that they want their
7:51
Speaker 1: players to rely on each other when things are going on.
7:55
Speaker 1: And to Chris's point, money, yes, these guys make hundreds
7:59
Speaker 1: of millions of dollars. Claudelum, you played for twenty one
8:01
Speaker 1: years and went for Stanley Cups and was at his
8:05
Speaker 1: peak one of the best players in the league and
8:09
Speaker 1: paid handsomely for it post free agency in the NHL,
8:14
Speaker 1: and he wasn't well enough, and you just never know.
8:17
Speaker 1: And it's easy to put these guys and gals that
8:20
Speaker 1: play professional sports up on a pedestal, and even college
8:23
Speaker 1: sports these days, but they're still just people, and they
8:27
Speaker 1: still have issues, and they still have problems, and they
8:29
Speaker 1: still have coping mechanisms that they try to work themselves through,
8:32
Speaker 1: and then tragedy strikes like this, and it's a reminder
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Speaker 1: that those don't always work. So I hate to start
8:41
Speaker 1: sobering Friday with this, but I also hate that claudlum
8:45
Speaker 1: you took his life three days after being honored and
8:49
Speaker 1: as a Canadian hero four nine four five one become
8:55
Speaker 1: a DODG tech line just encourage you to have awareness
9:00
Speaker 1: of mental health and the need and the importance of
9:04
Speaker 1: it in our society, and the fact that there is
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Speaker 1: an avenue to help. And then you just style three
9:08
Speaker 1: numbers as much as we're all on our phones. If
9:11
Speaker 1: you need anything or just someone to talk to, you
9:13
Speaker 1: to dial nine to eight eight. And it really I
9:15
Speaker 1: think it's a really great national program that's gone on.
9:20
Speaker 1: But it does transcend sports. And I mentioned when I
9:24
Speaker 1: first got in this sports writing business out of being
9:26
Speaker 1: an Army officer in the late nineties, the great Anne Killean,
9:30
Speaker 1: who's now at the San Francisco Chronicle. I talked about
9:33
Speaker 1: this maybe a year ago. She was my first instructor
9:37
Speaker 1: in a sports writing class in cal Berkeley's Graduate School
9:41
Speaker 1: of Journalism. She came and she asked the question, what
9:45
Speaker 1: is sports writing really? How many of do you think
9:48
Speaker 1: sports writing is about the games and sports? And I
9:51
Speaker 1: think everybody raised, I think universally the class of probably
9:54
Speaker 1: twenty people, everyone raised their including myself, raised my hand
9:57
Speaker 1: and said, yeah, that's what sports are about. Sports is
9:59
Speaker 1: about out the games and the sports. And she said
10:04
Speaker 1: Ann Kelly and said, now sports is about people, and
10:09
Speaker 1: your craft of journalism is really about learning about people.
10:13
Speaker 1: And that really struck me. How many years ago, thirty
10:16
Speaker 1: years ago now twenty nine years ago, and I've told
10:20
Speaker 1: An this we there't know colleagues, and I've seen her
10:23
Speaker 1: at events and national sports Writing awards. We've both been
10:27
Speaker 1: recognized as we were fortunate enough to be voted as
10:30
Speaker 1: not as state sports Writers of the Year the same
10:32
Speaker 1: year a couple of years ago, and we were back
10:33
Speaker 1: for the awards ceremony in North Carolina and I reminded
10:37
Speaker 1: her of that and she said, yeah, I remember that,
10:39
Speaker 1: and she said, I remembered you raised your hands, said
10:41
Speaker 1: sports was about games and the sports. And I've come
10:45
Speaker 1: to learn She's exactly right. It's about people. And then
10:48
Speaker 1: ultimately these people that we put in fantasy football and
10:50
Speaker 1: basketball and hold up as widgets and entertainment pieces are
10:54
Speaker 1: just people too. They are people that are extraordinarily skilled,
10:58
Speaker 1: and they're extraordinary richer than all of us, but they
11:02
Speaker 1: are people. And I've tried to make my journalism career
11:05
Speaker 1: about that, about bringing the people side of sports to light.
11:11
Speaker 1: And I've tried to make this radio show somewhat like
11:14
Speaker 1: that and to give you a glimpse behind the people
11:17
Speaker 1: that make our sports and entertain us. The story I'm
11:21
Speaker 1: going to tell you today about the Seahawks, the Marcus
11:25
Speaker 1: Lawrence is the veteran who came back to the team
11:29
Speaker 1: yesterday after some people thought he might retire. But his
11:32
Speaker 1: story is a people's story. It's a real life story.
11:34
Speaker 1: It's not a football story why he was gone, It's
11:38
Speaker 1: a people's story. And more and more as we all
11:42
Speaker 1: watch the games and fantasy and betting and all this
11:47
Speaker 1: other stuff, I think that's a gets lost and some
11:52
Speaker 1: people just see these players as widgets and people to
11:55
Speaker 1: give them fantasy points and win their bets. And they
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Speaker 1: are people too. And Claude lemue story is a sobering
12:02
Speaker 1: reminder of that. And rest in peace to Claude Mune's
12:07
Speaker 1: hats off, of course, hearts out to his family and
12:11
Speaker 1: those who love him. We'll also talking about on the
12:15
Speaker 1: show today with Gary Hill Junior at eleven o'clock about
12:17
Speaker 1: the Mariners on the field and the fact that they
12:21
Speaker 1: are playing the Arizona Diamondbacks for who are seven games
12:24
Speaker 1: over five hundred in the first game of a three
12:26
Speaker 1: game series tonight, and then they get to New York Mets,
12:29
Speaker 1: who are a mess with a payroll that is almost
12:33
Speaker 1: five hundred million dollars in the last place team. We
12:35
Speaker 1: talked yesterday with Keith McPherson and former WFN host in
12:38
Speaker 1: New York about the Mets, and he said, you'd need
12:41
Speaker 1: to blow it all up again. He made it sound
12:44
Speaker 1: like Chris that if the Mariners don't sweep the Mets,
12:46
Speaker 1: that's a failure.
12:47
Speaker 2: The Mets are so bad, can you I guess we
12:51
Speaker 2: could take that with a little grain of salt. But
12:53
Speaker 2: at the same time, they got to beat the bad teams.
12:57
Speaker 2: I don't know how how else we can say that,
13:00
Speaker 2: And this is the opportunity to do just that. He
13:01
Speaker 2: did it with the Athletics, so continue that process out there,
13:04
Speaker 2: hopefully at least getting two to one on the Diamondbacks.
13:08
Speaker 2: I think that's a is that not a fair ask?
13:10
Speaker 2: I mean, maybe a sweep of the Diamondbacks, but the Mets. Yeah,
13:13
Speaker 2: you got to you gotta bring out the Bruins, I think.
13:16
Speaker 1: And this is the move. This is the point in
13:18
Speaker 1: the schedule is Chris and I have talked about when
13:20
Speaker 1: are they gonna make their move? Here's another one they
13:21
Speaker 1: could Now that they're in first place, there's an opportunity
13:24
Speaker 1: for them not to give it up.
13:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, strength and wins together and just take it run with.
13:29
Speaker 1: It because after the Diamondbacks they have the Mets for
13:31
Speaker 1: three here at home, and as I mentioned, then they
13:33
Speaker 1: go on the road to Detroit, who is absolutely abject
13:37
Speaker 1: failure right now, and they're talking about fire sailing and
13:40
Speaker 1: trading Trek Scugle if he comes off the injury list
13:44
Speaker 1: and his injury and his elbow surgery, and that one
13:47
Speaker 1: of the first things they'll do when he does come off,
13:49
Speaker 1: and we'll trade him. And this is the Cy Young
13:52
Speaker 1: Award winner. They're paying thirty two million dollars too, that's
13:54
Speaker 1: how bad the Tigers are right now. And then after
13:57
Speaker 1: that they go to the Baltimore to play the Orioles,
13:59
Speaker 1: who are second to last in the American League East
14:01
Speaker 1: and then they go down the Parkway and play Washington
14:04
Speaker 1: and the Nationals are a five hundred team. So if
14:08
Speaker 1: the Mariners are to make a move and stay in
14:10
Speaker 1: the first place in the American League West, all they
14:12
Speaker 1: have to do really is win above fifty percent of
14:15
Speaker 1: those games, because that's the division isn't playing five hundred,
14:18
Speaker 1: and you'll have a two or three or four game
14:20
Speaker 1: lead into mid June. And for a team that has
14:23
Speaker 1: been this inconsistent, this poor, with this many problems and
14:27
Speaker 1: the hitting and everything else, Kyle Rawley hasn't even been
14:30
Speaker 1: a part of this team yet this and he's not
14:32
Speaker 1: currently injured. That would be amazing in many ways, but
14:36
Speaker 1: it just tells you how bad the American League West is.
14:38
Speaker 2: Something you have said since the beginning of the season,
14:41
Speaker 2: like this West aos is awful. The Mariners should just
14:45
Speaker 2: have an easy path and taking number one, and if
14:48
Speaker 2: they can do that, they set themselves up pretty well
14:51
Speaker 2: for the playoffs.
14:51
Speaker 1: I'd imagine you would think, I mean, this division is
14:55
Speaker 1: theirs to take. I mean, the Astros are a dabject
14:59
Speaker 1: failure too, and they're pitching it's falling apart, and the injuries,
15:03
Speaker 1: the Tigers. We talked to Bob Knight and Gale a
15:06
Speaker 1: couple days ago. A lot of people not the Tiger,
15:08
Speaker 1: the Rangers in Texas. A lot of people thought the
15:09
Speaker 1: Rangers were going to rise up with the moves they made,
15:12
Speaker 1: and in fact, they still have the grom on that
15:14
Speaker 1: pitching staff and they cannot put it together either, and
15:17
Speaker 1: they still don't have consistent pitching. And then you have
15:20
Speaker 1: the Angels who are pretty much starting over in an abyss.
15:24
Speaker 3: I mean, what's a good record to have for the division?
15:28
Speaker 1: Yeah?
15:28
Speaker 2: Fifty two games? What's like, especially how bad the Al
15:31
Speaker 2: West is, what's the number you would.
15:32
Speaker 1: Say is how many wins to win the division?
15:35
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously I think not to win a division,
15:37
Speaker 2: but how many wins is respectable because they should be
15:39
Speaker 2: sweeping a lot of these teams, although.
15:43
Speaker 3: Texas brand would be my only one that I'm kind
15:45
Speaker 3: of worried about.
15:45
Speaker 2: But I'm thinking, like, thirty six wins in your division
15:49
Speaker 2: out of the fifty two is that not a reasonable number?
15:53
Speaker 1: Maybe even forty? Yeah, considering how good this roster is.
15:56
Speaker 1: Two thirds of the games, yes, you should win those series? Right,
15:59
Speaker 1: So two out of every three games winning? Yeah? Okay?
16:02
Speaker 1: And if you play six six sixty seven ball in
16:05
Speaker 1: your division, you're gonna win it. Yeah, and that's I
16:08
Speaker 1: think certainly attainable. And that's where the Mariners now standing
16:11
Speaker 1: out at their in first place in the American League
16:14
Speaker 1: West by themselves for the first time this season. Up next,
16:16
Speaker 1: we'll go back to the NFL, back to the Seahawks OTAs.
16:20
Speaker 1: They have the third of three practices this week of OTAs,
16:23
Speaker 1: then three practices next week and then the veteran mandatory
16:26
Speaker 1: minicamp and that's it. And they had a new veteran,
16:29
Speaker 1: new old veteran re emerge rejoined the team yesterday. We'll
16:32
Speaker 1: tell you why he was away. It's a really good reason.
16:35
Speaker 1: He's got his life priorities in order. That's next. At
16:38
Speaker 1: eleven o'clock, Gary Hill Junior, the Mariners broadcaster, will join
16:41
Speaker 1: us on the Beacon Plumbing Hotline eleven thirty. We'll readback
16:43
Speaker 1: your text already getting text in about the Claude Lemuse
16:45
Speaker 1: subject and other things. On ninety three point three KJRFM,
16:55
Speaker 1: Welcome back of the show, The Great Bront Show with
16:56
Speaker 1: Christopher Cairt, every weekday ten am to noon. Here on
16:59
Speaker 1: ninety three point three KJRFM I hope it's great. Wherever
17:02
Speaker 1: you are. It's raining. Can't even see across the Eliott
17:04
Speaker 1: fay Day. It's like yesterday didn't happened. Maybe four and
17:07
Speaker 1: sunny in Seattle today bobby and rainy and drizzly. But
17:11
Speaker 1: it must be nice this weekend and not rain for
17:13
Speaker 1: another week or so at the beginning of June, and
17:16
Speaker 1: hopefully it's beautiful sunny wherever you might be listening. And
17:18
Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app for free go to nine through three
17:21
Speaker 1: KGr dot com, or of course, just go to the
17:24
Speaker 1: website nine through three KGr dot com and there you
17:26
Speaker 1: are were They're right there. Click to play button or
17:29
Speaker 1: just your old trustrial radio. Appreciate all you listening. The
17:32
Speaker 1: Seahawks had an open Ota practice on Tuesday to the media,
17:36
Speaker 1: then yesterday's and then today's are closed to the media
17:41
Speaker 1: next week, saying they have three game three practices next week,
17:44
Speaker 1: two of which are open to the media Tuesday Wednesday,
17:47
Speaker 1: if I remember, and then the three days of the
17:51
Speaker 1: veteran mandatory mini camp June eight, nine, and ten. Then
17:54
Speaker 1: that's it. They're off until the start of training camp
17:56
Speaker 1: in the last week or so of July, and then
17:59
Speaker 1: here we go. It starts from the end of July
18:01
Speaker 1: until they hope February and a repeat Super Bowl, Super
18:05
Speaker 1: Bowl sixty one in Los Angeles and Inglewood, and so
18:09
Speaker 1: this offseason has been short. It's what happens when you
18:12
Speaker 1: win the Super Bowl and your coach gives the veterans
18:15
Speaker 1: time away, and then they don't come right away for
18:18
Speaker 1: the offseason program. And then the case of the Markets Lawrence,
18:22
Speaker 1: you don't come to the OTAs and people start saying
18:24
Speaker 1: he's going to retire. No, he's not. Yesterday, DeMarcus Lawrence
18:29
Speaker 1: showed up for the first time at Seahawks headquarters since
18:32
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. He's a going on his thirteenth year now,
18:38
Speaker 1: twelve years in the league, eleven with the Dallas Cowboys.
18:41
Speaker 1: Last year with his first year with the Seahawks and
18:44
Speaker 1: the defensive end and EDG. Dresher made the Pro Bowl
18:46
Speaker 1: for the fifth time in his career last year. He's
18:49
Speaker 1: right after winning the Super Bowl, I mean the day
18:51
Speaker 1: after Lawrence's wife Sasha birthed their sixth child. Little girl, Sianna,
18:58
Speaker 1: was born the day after Super Bull sixty on February
19:01
Speaker 1: the ninth. Back in Texas, the Marcus Lawrence rushed from
19:04
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl to there and was there for the
19:07
Speaker 1: birth of his sixth child, The Marcus Lawrence has earned
19:11
Speaker 1: more than one hundred and forty million dollars playing pro football.
19:14
Speaker 1: He was about to turn thirty four years old, which
19:16
Speaker 1: he's since done here this spring, would have been easy
19:19
Speaker 1: for him to retire, right, Chris. I mean, he'd finally
19:22
Speaker 1: reached the pinnacle of his career. He finally won the
19:24
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, which is why he signed with Seattle yep.
19:28
Speaker 1: And it would have been easy for him to go
19:29
Speaker 1: home to Texas and helped Sasha raise those six kids.
19:32
Speaker 1: Two of those six kids are one year old or younger.
19:35
Speaker 1: They have a one year old and then they have
19:36
Speaker 1: a newborn.
19:37
Speaker 2: I hope they have a nanny or someone or a
19:39
Speaker 2: grandma or family member that is helping. That sounds insane,
19:43
Speaker 2: That's sure they do. That's still difficult.
19:47
Speaker 1: Having said all that, Lawrence told coach Mike McDonald right
19:50
Speaker 1: after the Super Bowl, now I'm coming back. And McDonald
19:53
Speaker 1: has been consistent through all this. He told us that
19:55
Speaker 1: in Indianapolis at the combine at the end of February.
19:57
Speaker 1: He said it again in March at the league meetings
20:00
Speaker 1: down in Phoenix. He said, no, we expect, and DeMarcus
20:03
Speaker 1: Lawrence has told me he's coming back for a thirteenth season.
20:06
Speaker 1: And in fact, while he was in the off season,
20:09
Speaker 1: Lawrence recruited Dante Fowler Junior to Seattle and said, Hey,
20:13
Speaker 1: if you want to go win a Super Bowl at
20:15
Speaker 1: the end of your career, come to Seattle. That's what
20:16
Speaker 1: I did, and sure enough, Fowler signed as a dead
20:20
Speaker 1: dresser veteran ed drusher one year contract with the Seahawks.
20:23
Speaker 1: Because of DeMarcus Lawrence. They were teammates in Dallas under
20:26
Speaker 1: Adam Dirty, who's now the defense coordinator for the Seahawks,
20:28
Speaker 1: of course, was the defensive line coach for Lawrence and
20:30
Speaker 1: Fowler in Dallas with the Cowboys a couple of years ago.
20:34
Speaker 1: So yesterday, for the first time, Lawrence did show up
20:36
Speaker 1: because Mike McDonald kept saying he's going to, and he's
20:39
Speaker 1: going to, and he did show up. Yesterday's the team facility.
20:42
Speaker 1: He was on the field for practice the second of
20:44
Speaker 1: those Ota practices. Seahawks team writer John Boyle the practice
20:48
Speaker 1: wasn't closed to him, of course, a team employee. He
20:51
Speaker 1: asked Lawrence after practice yesterday about being away until now,
20:54
Speaker 1: and here's what Lawrence said, quote, shout out to the
20:57
Speaker 1: fans that are concerned about me, just let him know
21:01
Speaker 1: d Law's doing well. I'm currently working back in Texas
21:05
Speaker 1: right now. I've got the newborn and a one year old,
21:08
Speaker 1: so I can't leave mom with all those responsibilities. She
21:11
Speaker 1: knows i'll be back here for this season, and the
21:13
Speaker 1: coaching staff knows my game plan. We're still working. I'm
21:16
Speaker 1: just not able to be here on a day to
21:18
Speaker 1: day basis. So yeah, de Marcus Lawrence has his life
21:21
Speaker 1: priorities in order and home with his wife Sasha, and
21:24
Speaker 1: there six kids, including two one year older younger. And
21:30
Speaker 1: so does Mike McDonald have his life priorities in order? Huh?
21:33
Speaker 1: He just had a baby boy who's now a little
21:36
Speaker 1: older than one. And I sense from the thirty eight
21:40
Speaker 1: year old coach from the three now going on three seasons,
21:43
Speaker 1: I've dealt with him daily football wise that he's had
21:46
Speaker 1: something of an epiphany about being a father and about life.
21:50
Speaker 1: It changes you, man, the first time you become a
21:52
Speaker 1: father or a parent. I don't have to tell all
21:55
Speaker 1: of you listening this, it changes you. You have a
21:57
Speaker 1: different perspective on life than you did before that day.
21:59
Speaker 1: Your baby was sport, and I think Mike McDonald has
22:02
Speaker 1: a difference. He is a self described football nerd. Chris,
22:04
Speaker 1: we've talked about this and you can tell about it
22:07
Speaker 1: listening to him.
22:07
Speaker 3: Right, he's he's a great It's fun to hear him
22:11
Speaker 3: talk football.
22:11
Speaker 2: He's you could ask him about anything and any who
22:15
Speaker 2: to your point, nerd love, it is not what it
22:19
Speaker 2: used to be back in the day. Nerds used to
22:20
Speaker 2: get teased and picked on. Now nerds are like glorified
22:23
Speaker 2: and I love that. What a change of twenty plus
22:25
Speaker 2: years make. Nerds used to be hiding eating lunch by themselves.
22:30
Speaker 2: Now nerds are. They're taken over and you'll love to
22:33
Speaker 2: see it. Shout out to the nerds. Revenge of the Nerds,
22:36
Speaker 2: well played there.
22:37
Speaker 1: Great movie is that? Is that a sport movie? Could
22:40
Speaker 1: ask from discussion yesterday. But Mike McDonald, I get the
22:46
Speaker 1: sense that that DeMarcus Lawrence baby being born, his baby
22:50
Speaker 1: being born the day after the Super Bowl struck him differently,
22:53
Speaker 1: as my kids will say, hit differently than it would
22:56
Speaker 1: have this time a year and a half ago before
23:00
Speaker 1: Donald's son Jack was born, Jack and Stephanie's son Jack
23:05
Speaker 1: McDonald's wife Stephanie, and so when DeMarcus Lawrence told him
23:08
Speaker 1: the situation, I would suspect that Mike McDonald told Lawrence,
23:13
Speaker 1: take all the time you need, we don't need you
23:16
Speaker 1: in April, and may you know what the hell you're doing.
23:18
Speaker 1: You're a thirteen year veteran. McDonald has gone on and
23:22
Speaker 1: on about how DeMarcus Lawrence is the best practice player
23:25
Speaker 1: he's ever seen. That he does everything to the tea
23:29
Speaker 1: exactly as coaches drill it, and will not let his
23:33
Speaker 1: teammates down and off the hook on any drill unless
23:36
Speaker 1: they do it exactly the way the coaches want it done,
23:39
Speaker 1: and that he sets the DeMarcus Lawrence sets the example
23:42
Speaker 1: in doing that. I say all that to say Mike
23:45
Speaker 1: McDonald doesn't need him on the field in May, and
23:48
Speaker 1: in fact, that wouldn't surprised me if McDonald said just
23:50
Speaker 1: stay away. In fact, on Tuesday, McDonald said, yeah, he's
23:54
Speaker 1: gonna be here eventually. I don't think he knew that
23:57
Speaker 1: he was going to show up the next day because
24:00
Speaker 1: he was at the next practice. He'd have to be here.
24:03
Speaker 1: Lies didn't have to be here. But it's a glimpse
24:06
Speaker 1: into the culture that Mike McDonald has established here in
24:10
Speaker 1: two years in Seattle. The brotherhood, that togetherness, all the intangible,
24:14
Speaker 1: touchy feely stuff did a lot of people don't want
24:16
Speaker 1: to hear and talk about. That matters to McDonald in
24:19
Speaker 1: the Seahawks. That matters so much. They think they won
24:22
Speaker 1: the super Bowl because of it. Not the x's and o's,
24:25
Speaker 1: and not the schemes that McDonald puts in his defense,
24:28
Speaker 1: and not how they used nick Emon worry, and not
24:30
Speaker 1: how Kenneth Walker ran wild in the playoffs. They think
24:32
Speaker 1: they won the super Bowl because of their culture, their togetherness,
24:36
Speaker 1: their brotherhood that started last spring, this time last spring
24:40
Speaker 1: when they had one hundred percent participation in all this
24:43
Speaker 1: voluntary stuff. And then DeMarcus Lawrence shown up yesterday as
24:46
Speaker 1: another example of that. Anyway you talk about players as
24:50
Speaker 1: real people, that's a real person. If you had six kids,
24:54
Speaker 1: he was a wife of a football player, had six kids.
24:57
Speaker 1: You don't want to hear about it. I gotta go
24:58
Speaker 1: honey out to Seattle to do some practices that are
25:02
Speaker 1: voluntary in May. She's gonna be like, what, you don't
25:07
Speaker 1: have to be there?
25:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's probably, but she's probably been through it a
25:11
Speaker 2: few times. Thirteen year of VET. I'm sure they've had
25:14
Speaker 2: multiple discussions about OTAs, especially with the Cowboys. At least
25:18
Speaker 2: now he hasn't he has a rock to back up, like, hey, babe,
25:21
Speaker 2: it was important to be there.
25:22
Speaker 3: Now saying it's not important to be home, but back.
25:24
Speaker 1: Then he was living or he was practicing just down
25:26
Speaker 1: the road from that is true. So probably yea every night.
25:29
Speaker 3: Probably, yeah, you get to come right back home, whereas
25:31
Speaker 3: now it's like, dam I take a flight.
25:37
Speaker 1: Anyway anyway. Yes, I know they're rich, and yes they
25:40
Speaker 1: probably have five nannies, and yes every kid probably has
25:43
Speaker 1: his own name. Yeah I know all of that, but
25:45
Speaker 1: he's still a dad and he still wanted to be
25:46
Speaker 1: with his kids. And Mike McDonald's had Sure you do that.
25:49
Speaker 1: That stuff matters, and if you want players to follow
25:52
Speaker 1: you as a coach, you do stuff like that. It's
25:55
Speaker 1: not about giving him a good gatorade or making sure
25:57
Speaker 1: the food's good. It's stuff like this, telling a new
26:01
Speaker 1: dad or a dad of six kids when a sixth
26:03
Speaker 1: child is born, stay away, I got it. I trust you.
26:07
Speaker 1: I know what you're gonna do. And that's what Mike
26:09
Speaker 1: McDonald did with the Marcus Lawrence. Speaking of the Marcus
26:12
Speaker 1: Lawrence that a lot of people. Chuck asked me this
26:15
Speaker 1: this morning at seven o'clock on his show about the
26:18
Speaker 1: edge rushing situation, and he said, a lot of people
26:21
Speaker 1: believe that the Seahawks still have a hole there because
26:23
Speaker 1: they did not replace Boy Mafey directly. Mafay, of course,
26:27
Speaker 1: got a twenty million dollars a year deal from the
26:29
Speaker 1: desperate Cincinnati Bengals once they lost Trey Hendrickson. They needed
26:33
Speaker 1: a pass rusher and they overpaid for Boy Mafey. Boy Mafey,
26:37
Speaker 1: though Chris was not by definition an edge rusher for
26:41
Speaker 1: this team. Last year, he and I know he had
26:44
Speaker 1: win rates and there's some netrics out there that said
26:47
Speaker 1: he was okay as a pass rusher, and the Bengals
26:49
Speaker 1: obviously were hanging on that for the twenty million they
26:52
Speaker 1: paid him. But there were if you watch closely, he
26:55
Speaker 1: often was off the field on third downs and they
26:58
Speaker 1: brought in They had Keemon Warriy play a sam linebacker
27:01
Speaker 1: probably about two thirds of the time when they were
27:03
Speaker 1: doing these sub packages, and they had Lawrence, and they
27:07
Speaker 1: had Leonard Williams on the field at the same time,
27:09
Speaker 1: they had Derek Hall, and they had Byron Murphy and
27:11
Speaker 1: that was their front four, and boy Mafaev wasn't even
27:14
Speaker 1: on the field half the time or more during those
27:18
Speaker 1: passing situations. So I don't see that as that big
27:21
Speaker 1: of a hole to Phil Chris, especially when they drafted
27:24
Speaker 1: Bud Clark, who's good. It sounds like he's gonna get
27:27
Speaker 1: something of a nick Eman worry Jack of all trades.
27:30
Speaker 1: Move him into the box, move them around type of role,
27:34
Speaker 1: and that frees up Nick. That frees up NICKI mon
27:37
Speaker 1: woorry to do. I think that freezes up Devin Witherspoon
27:39
Speaker 1: to be an inside and outside cornerback. I think there'd
27:43
Speaker 1: be just fine. Maybe if they don't have linebackers on
27:46
Speaker 1: the roster per se that Phil backfill. Between signing Fowler
27:50
Speaker 1: having Lawrence come back, I think he'd be just fine
27:53
Speaker 1: at at Drudger.
27:54
Speaker 2: I think Fowler kind of solidified this unit just because
27:56
Speaker 2: still they have rotational guys such as Mike Moore, as
27:59
Speaker 2: Jared I IV Connor, o'tool and oh, you guys remember
28:01
Speaker 2: Riley Mills. He had some plays in the Super Bowl
28:05
Speaker 2: that probably the star. After thinking, Okay, this guy has potential,
28:08
Speaker 2: we can throw him in the mix and maybe he
28:10
Speaker 2: can get some opportunities outside the edge, slowing down the
28:12
Speaker 2: run and getting out for the quarterback, which Mike McDonald loves.
28:15
Speaker 2: If you can do both those things, you will find
28:17
Speaker 2: opportunities to play and boy Mafey, he gets slow down
28:20
Speaker 2: on the run. He didn't have the sack numbers, but
28:22
Speaker 2: he was definitely effective in setting the edge for the
28:24
Speaker 2: most part and allowing other guys to make plays. So
28:26
Speaker 2: if you can do that with Mike McDonald's defense, he's
28:29
Speaker 2: great at disguising things and getting other players, as you mentioned,
28:32
Speaker 2: getting opportunities to get sacked, such as a Bud Clark.
28:35
Speaker 2: You already saw what Devin Witherspoon did because he unleashed
28:38
Speaker 2: him in the biggest game of the year, and he
28:41
Speaker 2: had probably his best game of the season the last
28:43
Speaker 2: game of the season in the Super Bowl. So you
28:44
Speaker 2: look at it in terms of I think Mike McDonald
28:47
Speaker 2: he's coming in with a new idea. Everyone saw what
28:50
Speaker 2: he did last year. Not saying he's not going to
28:51
Speaker 2: do as much as what he did last year with
28:53
Speaker 2: disguising things, but I think he's just gonna go even
28:55
Speaker 2: more into it, and maybe this year he gets greedy
28:58
Speaker 2: and he blitzes more.
29:00
Speaker 1: That's one thing he didn't do at all last year.
29:01
Speaker 1: They didn't.
29:02
Speaker 3: I think they were probably out of the thirty two teams.
29:05
Speaker 2: I'd probably guess they were probably thirty thirty, first twenty
29:09
Speaker 2: nine in that range because he didn't blitz. He was
29:11
Speaker 2: sending five man pressure, confusing linemen. They were like, oh
29:16
Speaker 2: I check here, and it's some it's a safety coming
29:20
Speaker 2: out of nowhere. Kyle caught off for a sack. That's
29:22
Speaker 2: the type of mind game that Mike McDonald was playing.
29:24
Speaker 2: And you still have a defensive line that is still
29:27
Speaker 2: strong because of Leo Byron Murphy and now you just
29:30
Speaker 2: mentioned Lawrence. He's also been productive and had his probably
29:33
Speaker 2: his best season. What is his twelve year last year?
29:36
Speaker 1: Yep.
29:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, So he Mike McDonald, I think he's just digging
29:39
Speaker 2: into his bag of tricks, and I'm excited to see
29:41
Speaker 2: how he's going to disguise, create stunts, simulated pressures in tior,
29:45
Speaker 2: interior disruption, and even those deep rotations like I mentioned
29:48
Speaker 2: with the safety. So I'm excited to see how it
29:50
Speaker 2: all works out, even with the loss of boy of mine,
29:53
Speaker 2: because I mentioned some young guys that will definitely get
29:55
Speaker 2: opportunities to make a name for themselves on this defense.
29:58
Speaker 1: They were a twenty two percent plitz right team last year.
30:01
Speaker 1: That was among the bottom five in the league. So, Chris,
30:03
Speaker 1: you're exactly right. Yet they got all the pressures in
30:07
Speaker 1: the sack, especially in the biggest games yep. And in
30:09
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl they absolutely bludge in the offensive line
30:11
Speaker 1: of the Patriots and Drake may I don't think the
30:15
Speaker 1: edge rushings hole was as big as being portrayed. And
30:18
Speaker 1: another name you mentioned that who's going to get a
30:21
Speaker 1: huge opportunity to fill Boy Mafey's role as Jared Ivy.
30:25
Speaker 1: He was a prized undrafted rookie. They gave a lot
30:27
Speaker 1: of signing bonus money to in the offseason last year
30:30
Speaker 1: as an undrafted rookie. They I've mentioned this a couple
30:33
Speaker 1: of times, they shelved him. He wasn't active for the
30:36
Speaker 1: they didn't need him to be active on the roster,
30:39
Speaker 1: yet they kept him active and they kept him on
30:41
Speaker 1: the active roster the entire season rather than risking to
30:43
Speaker 1: put him on the practice squad, because to put him
30:45
Speaker 1: on the practice squad you go to subject them to
30:47
Speaker 1: league waivers. And they were afraid a team would either
30:50
Speaker 1: claim them on waivers, or if they did get through
30:52
Speaker 1: waivers to the practice squad, another team would just sign
30:54
Speaker 1: him off the practice squad to their active roster and
30:56
Speaker 1: they lose them. So they kept them on the active
30:58
Speaker 1: rosters by him never being active for a game. That's
31:01
Speaker 1: how much they think of Jared Ivy and Mike McDonald
31:04
Speaker 1: has talked a couple times about Ivy as being a
31:06
Speaker 1: guy that they are very much looking forward to seeing
31:09
Speaker 1: how he steps up into more of a prominent role
31:12
Speaker 1: in the defense as a situational edge rusher, perhaps being
31:16
Speaker 1: another guy to take the place a boy Moffitt four
31:20
Speaker 1: nine four five one to come an dodge text line,
31:23
Speaker 1: How do you feel about the Seahawks pass rush, the
31:25
Speaker 1: edge rushing situation, about the signing of Fowler DeMarcus Lawrence
31:29
Speaker 1: coming back? You content or you like Chuck asking me
31:31
Speaker 1: this morning, you think they did enough? They still have
31:34
Speaker 1: a hole at edge rusher and you'd like to see
31:36
Speaker 1: him do more. They have salary cap space, they could
31:38
Speaker 1: go out and get another veteran pass rusher, perhaps when
31:41
Speaker 1: it's cut in the summer. How you feel about the
31:44
Speaker 1: Seahawks pass rush text line? Will read that back at
31:46
Speaker 1: eleven thirty Up next, back to the Mariage, Back to baseball.
31:50
Speaker 1: The owners are trying to put a salary cap in
31:52
Speaker 1: a league that has been uncapped with fully guaranteed contracts forever.
31:57
Speaker 1: We'll tell you what the owner's proposal was yesterday on
32:00
Speaker 1: the expiring Collective Barney Game. Will also tell you where
32:02
Speaker 1: the Mariners current player payroll stands in relation to this salary,
32:06
Speaker 1: proposed salary cap, and proposed salary floor in Major League Baseball.
32:11
Speaker 1: That's next on ninety three point three KJRFM. Welcome back,
32:18
Speaker 1: Happy Friday to you The Greg Bell Show with Christopher
32:21
Speaker 1: k Live on ninety three point three KJRFM. The Mariners
32:25
Speaker 1: are back home tonight, starting a three game series against
32:28
Speaker 1: the Arizona Diamondbacks, who recently beaten up on the Giants
32:31
Speaker 1: and the Rockies, who are two of the worst teams
32:33
Speaker 1: in the league. Diamondbacks are seven games over five hundred.
32:36
Speaker 1: The Mariners first place, yet still under five hundred. It's
32:39
Speaker 1: funny to say they have a chance tonight to get
32:41
Speaker 1: back to five hundred while adding to their lead in
32:43
Speaker 1: the American League West. That's the state of the division.
32:47
Speaker 1: The Mariners currently lead, the state of baseball is that
32:50
Speaker 1: the collective Bargaining Agreement ends after this season, and yesterday
32:55
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball team owners gave an initial proposal proposal
32:59
Speaker 1: to the player union on renewing this expiring CBA. It
33:04
Speaker 1: has a hard salary cap, something Baseball's never had, two
33:07
Speaker 1: hundred and forty five point three million dollars. The proposed
33:11
Speaker 1: hard salary cap to the top, and they won a floor,
33:16
Speaker 1: a hard floor where every team has to spend a
33:18
Speaker 1: minimum amount of one hundred and seventy one point two
33:22
Speaker 1: million dollars. The Florida Marlins, for a point of reference,
33:26
Speaker 1: are spending sixty nine million on their payroll this year,
33:32
Speaker 1: not much more than that for the Cleveland Guardians, who
33:34
Speaker 1: are in first place in the America League Central at
33:36
Speaker 1: seventy some million, and the Major League Baseball the owners
33:40
Speaker 1: are proposing one seventy one to be the floor. Owners
33:44
Speaker 1: want to significantly, significantly reduce the disparity between team payrolls.
33:51
Speaker 1: They note the fact that last year there was a
33:53
Speaker 1: four hundred and forty six million dollars disparity between the
33:56
Speaker 1: Dodgers spending the top at over five million and the
34:00
Speaker 1: Marlins at under seventy million. Four hundred and forty six million.
34:04
Speaker 1: I mean, when the Marlins play the Dodgers, it's like
34:07
Speaker 1: single ay against the major leagues, it's like it's not
34:09
Speaker 1: even it's not even apples to apples. It's it's it's
34:13
Speaker 1: not even apples to fruit. It's four hundred and forty
34:16
Speaker 1: six million between those two teams payrolls. So the league's
34:20
Speaker 1: proposal yesterday also calls for a fifty to fifty revenue split.
34:23
Speaker 1: That would also be different because currently the players get
34:26
Speaker 1: forty eight percent of a team's local revenues, and they
34:29
Speaker 1: want a centralization of all television revenue to disperse to
34:33
Speaker 1: the players a day earlier than this proposal. Yesterday, the
34:36
Speaker 1: players union offered a soft payroll for not hard but okay,
34:42
Speaker 1: you can miss it, you can, but not as hard
34:45
Speaker 1: as the owners of proposing. They want new definitions of
34:48
Speaker 1: revenue sharing and pay increases for younger players. They want
34:51
Speaker 1: to double the players due The proposal is to double
34:54
Speaker 1: the minimum major league salary to one point five million
34:57
Speaker 1: dollars per player. It's currently about seven hundred fifty one thousand.
35:02
Speaker 1: And of course the players don't want a salary cap.
35:04
Speaker 1: They've never had one. Marvin Miller i don't know if
35:08
Speaker 1: you know that named Chris and major League Baseball history,
35:11
Speaker 1: those are on the text line, Who's Marvin Miller? Four nine,
35:13
Speaker 1: four to five one. They can thank Marvin Miller for
35:16
Speaker 1: how they have it. Fully guaranteed contracts, fully guaranteed Cold Emerson,
35:23
Speaker 1: fully guaranteed contract, ninety five million dollars. He hadn't even
35:26
Speaker 1: played a major league game yet Robinson cano two hundred
35:31
Speaker 1: fifty million dollars guaranteed if he would have hit oh fifty.
35:35
Speaker 1: He was getting two hundred fifty million in Seattle from Seattle,
35:38
Speaker 1: and the Mariners in fact still paid on that contract
35:40
Speaker 1: after they traded him and got rid of him and
35:42
Speaker 1: all of that. That's baseball. That's not football. That's the
35:45
Speaker 1: opposite of the NFL, where very little was guaranteed except
35:48
Speaker 1: for the year you're playing it. Major League Baseball has
35:52
Speaker 1: fully guaranteed contracts and no salary cap because of Marvin Miller.
35:55
Speaker 1: In the nineteen seventies eighties was the union leader of
35:59
Speaker 1: the players union, and he basically destroyed the teams and
36:04
Speaker 1: the owners in labor negotiations. They had a strike in
36:07
Speaker 1: the seventies and the owners freaked out and said, we
36:10
Speaker 1: can never have this again, and ever since then they
36:13
Speaker 1: had unrestricted free agency come in and the player salaries exploded.
36:20
Speaker 1: Kurt Flood, all of it the history of baseball. You
36:22
Speaker 1: can trace the riches that baseball players have and guaranteed
36:25
Speaker 1: contracts to Marvin Miller. In fact, Chris, the last time
36:29
Speaker 1: the owners have tried this one time to put in
36:32
Speaker 1: a salary cap in Major League Baseball was in nineteen
36:35
Speaker 1: ninety four. How old were you there? I was two
36:40
Speaker 1: years old, sir, So you don't remember, of course, what
36:42
Speaker 1: happened in baseball in nineteen ninety four when the owners
36:45
Speaker 1: tried to put a salary cap in the Collective Bartney Agreement.
36:48
Speaker 1: They canceled the World Series. The players struck, the season
36:52
Speaker 1: was canceled, the World Series was canceled. That's what happened
36:55
Speaker 1: the last time the owners tried to put in a
36:57
Speaker 1: salary cap. Now they're trying to do it again. And
37:00
Speaker 1: that's why most people think, because of this fundamental difference
37:04
Speaker 1: between players who've had it this way for half a
37:06
Speaker 1: century and owners who are seeing runaway disparity in some
37:11
Speaker 1: teams paying this and some teams not even trying to
37:14
Speaker 1: pay that, there's going to be a lockout in spring
37:17
Speaker 1: training in twenty twenty seven that the gap that chasm
37:19
Speaker 1: is just too wide to meet before the next season
37:24
Speaker 1: to be able to reconcile. This. Okay, So how did
37:27
Speaker 1: the Mariners fit into all this? Well, it's interesting to
37:31
Speaker 1: you ask the Mariners. Forbes said last year that the
37:35
Speaker 1: Mariners had three hundred and ninety million dollars in revenue.
37:40
Speaker 1: That was up about forty million dollars from the previous season.
37:45
Speaker 1: So that's you would think actually that they would have
37:48
Speaker 1: made it a little more than four hundred than forty
37:51
Speaker 1: more million dollars for going to the America League Championship Series.
37:53
Speaker 1: But that's what Forbes estimated. They have. The issue that
37:59
Speaker 1: a lot of people are with the Mariners and a
38:01
Speaker 1: lot of teams like the Mariners, the Pittsburgh Pirates and
38:03
Speaker 1: others have is that teams like the Mariners collect revenue
38:09
Speaker 1: sharing across Major League Baseball and the national television deals
38:14
Speaker 1: and media rights and merchandising. They also collect luxury tax
38:18
Speaker 1: payments from teams like the Dodgers and the Yankees that
38:21
Speaker 1: go above the luxury tax tax threshold. I'll get it right,
38:27
Speaker 1: and then they don't put it back into their payroll.
38:29
Speaker 1: The Pirates, for instance, their entire player payroll is frequently
38:33
Speaker 1: covered by just their local ticket and consistence concession stales,
38:37
Speaker 1: So that means all the other money that that owner
38:39
Speaker 1: gets goes into his pocket because he's not putting it
38:42
Speaker 1: back into his roster. In twenty twenty four, the Pirates
38:45
Speaker 1: generated three hundred twenty six million dollars in total revenue,
38:47
Speaker 1: but spent only eighty four on player payroll. That's only
38:50
Speaker 1: twenty six percent. What about the Mariners, you ask? This
38:54
Speaker 1: is per Fangrafts, Sports, bow Track and Forbes. I mentioned
38:58
Speaker 1: three hundred and ninety million dollars in revenue twenty twenty five.
39:01
Speaker 1: This year they're spending one hundred and sixty three million
39:03
Speaker 1: on player payroll. That's seventeenth in Major League Baseball. That's
39:07
Speaker 1: only forty one point eight percent of their revenue used
39:09
Speaker 1: on player payroll. Last year three hundred and seventy nine
39:13
Speaker 1: million dollars in revenue for twenty twenty four. The twenty
39:16
Speaker 1: five payroll was one hundred and sixty five million in pack.
39:19
Speaker 1: The player payroll has gone down two million dollars since
39:21
Speaker 1: they went to the America League Championship Series in twenty
39:25
Speaker 1: twenty four, thirty forty three percent forty three and a
39:29
Speaker 1: half percent of Mariner's revenues went back into player payroll.
39:33
Speaker 1: So Mariners revenues have gone up forty million dollars, yet
39:37
Speaker 1: they are using two percent less of those revenues this
39:41
Speaker 1: year toward player payroll, and payroll went down two million dollars.
39:46
Speaker 1: So the Mariners are making money and not putting it
39:48
Speaker 1: back into the team at a rate that would keep
39:51
Speaker 1: pace with their revenues. And that's why player teams or
39:55
Speaker 1: excuse me, fans get irate at the offseason lack of
39:58
Speaker 1: offseason moves. Now, we mentioned this before in the Jerry
40:01
Speaker 1: Depoto's credit and ownership's credit. They go out and get
40:04
Speaker 1: guys at the trading deadline to add salary, Randy Rose, Arena,
40:07
Speaker 1: Luis Castillo, and so forth. But as it stands now,
40:12
Speaker 1: they're only using forty one point eight percent of their revenues.
40:16
Speaker 1: The Mariner's revenue is on player payroll. And that's the
40:19
Speaker 1: kind of gaps while they're collecting luxury tax revenue and
40:23
Speaker 1: collecting the shared distribution of meteorites in Major League Baseball.
40:29
Speaker 1: That's the disparity that the owners are proposing with a
40:31
Speaker 1: salary cap and a salary four to lesson teams doing
40:36
Speaker 1: less of that four nine, four or five one? Are
40:38
Speaker 1: you in favor of a salary cap? On the text line,
40:42
Speaker 1: do you think that's the way to go in Major
40:43
Speaker 1: League Baseball? Do you think that would get the Mariners
40:45
Speaker 1: to spend more a salary floor? Do you think it's
40:48
Speaker 1: a good idea or do you like it the way
40:50
Speaker 1: it is as is? Let's go on to field of
40:52
Speaker 1: the Mariners next. Gary Hill Junior is the Mariners Broadcaster's
40:56
Speaker 1: going to join us on the Beacon Plumbing Hotline next
40:58
Speaker 1: on ninety three point three KJRFM